Perfect Little Accidents
by repmetsyrrah
Summary: A series of oneshots dealing with Clark being a stay-at-home Dad for two years. Now posted: Trouble Double: Lois' new twins make her doubt her abilities as a parent. Clark's not going to let that stand.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is a series of oneshots which takes place during Clark's two years as a stay-at-home Dad in _Revelations_. I'm posting them in one story on to keep it neat. All chapters are written to stand separately.

This first fic takes place right after Lucy and Ella are born.

**Part-Time**

* * *

Deputy Commissioner Henderson's office was literally buried in paperwork. There were files and forms spread all over his desk and balanced precariously on chairs and shelves.

"When was that computer age kicking in again?" he asked himself, signing several documents and searching for the correct pile to put them in.

He thought he might have located the right one but just as he set them down the sound of his door opening unexpectedly made him jump and turn towards it.

His elbow caught on a large pile on the edge of his desk but he barely had time to despair at the hours of re-filing when the papers were saved from disaster by a hand attached to a familiar blue and red clad figure.

"Superman!"

"Deputy Commissioner Henderson," the caped hero replied, nodding. "Catching up on some paperwork?" he asked, looking around the office with amusement and Henderson couldn't help a faint twinge of embarrassment at the state it was in.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I've got tons of stuff to sign off on and then there's a... well, a man in Oregon causing some problems and they think he might have started offending out here thirty-odd years ago. Now I'm stuck looking through the case files no one's had time to turn digital yet."

"That sounds a bit… below a Deputy Commissioner," Superman commented, clearing some of the files and sitting down.

Henderson tried not to let the surprise show on his face. Most times the Man of Steel came around it was for a two-minute update on the current crimes and goings on in the city then off to stop another bank robbery. He seemed to be in for more than a quick chat-and-fly tonight.

"Special favour for an old friend," he explained, "they think he might have contacts here who don't know who he really is and we don't want them unknowingly tipping him off."

"Oh, okay," Superman replied, nodding, "I can't imagine that's much fun."

Henderson put down his pen and leaned back in his chair, giving the other man his full attention. "What's going on?" he asked bluntly.

Superman was known for a lot of things. Making idle small talk was not one of them.

"I… have a…" he started, frowning as if choosing his words carefully, "I have something to tell you," he said finally.

"Oooookay," Henderson nodded, trying in vain to read Superman's face which remained stubbornly blank.

"I'm not going to be around much for the next while."

"You're leaving?" Henderson explained, his jaw falling open in shock.

Superman looked surprised and hurried to correct him. "No! No, I didn't come to say goodbye or anything. Just… I won't be around much for the next while," he explained carefully, repeating his earlier statement.

Henderson wasn't sure what to make of that at all. His baffled feeling must have shown on his face because Superman elaborated. Or tried to at any rate.

"Something… happened recently," he said very vaguely, "and I've had to make some pretty big decisions some of which mean I may not be as… available to help the general public as I am now."

The Commissioner massaged his temples, trying to wrap his head around what he was being told. "So you're still going to be around though?" he asked after a while, thinking of all the men he'd lost in the line of duty if not for Metropolis' bulletproof caped hero.

"Yes," Superman nodded, "but I won't be around for everything." He frowned again and continued, "I mean to say… I'll still be around for the big things, but I'm not going to be sticking around for the clean up afterwards."

Henderson nodded slowly, starting to understand what he was being told. But… "Why are you telling me this?"

Superman seemed surprised at the question. "Someone's going to notice," he told him, "I thought it would be a good idea to tell you it was going to happen beforehand."

"Okay," Henderson said, nodding.

This is not what he'd expected from this night at all. Of course he wasn't naïve enough to think Superman scaling back his crime-fighting efforts wouldn't have an impact once criminals noticed, but nor was he young enough to think the world couldn't handle itself even if he disappeared completely (and they had done that before too).

"I don't suppose I'd get an answer if I asked why?" he inquired, almost to himself as he already knew the answer.

"No," Superman admitted, looking like he truly regretted it, "I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"Well," Henderson said, as the man opposite him rose from his chair to leave. "If anyone ever deserved to take some time for himself it's you. And what ever it is you _are_ doing for the next while- Good luck."

"Thank you," Superman replied, his expression softening into a smile, "I think I'm going to need it."

Henderson sat for a while once the other man left before throwing down his pen and putting on his jacket to leave.

He might as well take a night off while he still had a chance.

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Reviews are love!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N****:** Written for the prompt 'Big Bad' for the Eyes Skyward October FicGrab. Second in this (anachronistic) series which takes place during Clark's two years as a stay-at-home Dad in _Revelations_. This fic takes place a year and a half after Lucy and Ella are born. Unbetaed, sorry.

**History Lessons**

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_We definitely need to go to the beach more often, _Lois Lane thought, lowering her sunglasses so she could look over the top and properly admire her shirtless husband. She smiled as he caught the football their eleven year old son, Jason had just thrown.

With his Super-suit covering a lot, though leaving little to the imagination, and his work clothes always long-sleeved, she loved seeing his bare skin in the daylight, it was a very rare sight. She knew she was blatantly staring as she watched his toned arms lift the ball again, before throwing it long and high back to his son, their shouts of laughter echoing around the deserted bay. But then again, the gold band on her finger entitled her to stare as much as she wanted.

"Mom?" The unexpected voice from right beside her made her jump and she turned to see her seven year old daughter frowning at the hills behind her father, before turning back to her mother, "What were you looking at?" she asked.

"Nothing, dear," Lois sighed, turning away from a very nice sight to an almost terrifying one. "What is _that_?" she yelped, recoiling from the dripping, flailing sight of sharp, red claws snapping only inches from her face.

"It's a lobster," Sophie announced happily, "I found it when Dean dared me to go into the little cave under the water."

The initial shock of seeing the huge red claws snapping at her face had worn off and the lobster's movements now seemed confused rather than aggressive. Not that she knew what crustaceans thought of being taken out of the water and carried around by seven year olds and the strange antenna and milky orbs that served as the creature's face was indecipherable.

"It's really big," Sophie said, stating the obvious as the girl was barely able to hold the thing properly with both her hands. "Grandma Lane said people will pay lots of money for big lobsters, can we sell it?"

Lois had no doubt a lobster of the size her daughter had found would fetch a reasonable price but- "I don't think so sweetie," she apologised, "people don't buy lobsters from just anyone and we wouldn't be able to say how we found it."

"Oh." Sophie's small shoulders slumped as she realised her mother was right. There weren't many children who's fathers flew them and their families out to deserted islands on the equator for an afternoon of sun and sand in the middle of a Metropolis winter.

The lobster wriggled in her grip and Lois couldn't help shuddering as the thing's many legs and appendages flailed and twitched disturbingly. "Maybe you should put it back where you found it, Sophie," she suggested, trying to remember if lobsters could survive out of water.

The girl looked disappointed but stood back up and headed back towards the water with the lobster, passing her five year old brother on the way back. Dean ducked out of the way as his sister waved the lobster, claws first, towards him as he passed and suck his tongue out.

Lois smiled at the exchange, she'd been so worried when she first found out she was pregnant with Sophie. Before Clark had returned she'd just assumed Jason would be an only child, but now when she watched her children play and tease each other she couldn't imagine life without them.

"Hi Mom," Dean said breathlessly, flopping down beside her.

"Having a good day?" Lois asked, realising her rest was over and sitting up. Clark and Jason were also coming over, Clark pausing to pick up the eighteen month old twins, Lucy and Ella who'd been playing in the sand near them.

"Can we come here every weekend?" Jason asked, diving straight into the picnic basket they had bought and pulling out a sandwich, taking a bite and then adding with a frown. "Where _is_ here anyway?"

"We're not far off the top of Australia actually," Clark informed them. "But I don't think anyone's been to this island for a while."

"That would explain the giant lobsters," Lois mused out loud as Sophie arrived back from returning the lobster home. "No one to fish them."

"Dad?" Jason asked suddenly, the tone of his voice changed so dramatically from the previously happy sound it had been that Lois felt her heart speed up and her body tense, prepared for the worst.

Clark had also noticed the note of fear and worry creeping into his son's voice. "Yes?" he asked slowly, sharing a confused glance with Lois as he turned to his son.

"What's that?" the boy asked, pointing at something low on his father's back.

Clark's hand went to the spot and he closed his eyes, his face losing all expression for a moment and Lois knew he was remembering. Even without looking she knew Jason had seen the old scar Clark still had from his encounter with Luthor shortly after his return.

"Oh," Jason gasped quietly, looking up at his Dad with realisation dawning on his face. "is that where…" he trailed off, looking upset. Lois couldn't blame him. Jason knew everything that had happened on that day and it had affected him greatly, he'd seen a psychologist for a year afterwards, Dr. Kellner was the only person outside their family who knew Jason had been involved in the New Krypton, she didn't know everything but the fact that Superman had saved her daughter's life had helped keep everything else quiet too. He hadn't ever seen the actual scar until today though.

"That's where _what_ is?" Sophie asked, sounding confused and slightly annoyed.

The mood on the beach had dramatically shifted. Lois felt a lot colder than she had a moment ago, even though the sun blazed as strongly as it had before Jason's question. Sophie and Dean also seemed upset, though it was more a reaction to the sudden mood shift in their brother and parents than any understanding of the painful memories bought up by Jason's question.

"Sorry," Jason said, sounding upset.

"It's okay," Clark assured him.

"What _is_ it?" Sophie asked again, becoming more frustrated as her questions went unanswered.

Clark looked at his wife, silently asking her what she thought they should do. Sophie was far to much like her mother to let this go, she would be on them for weeks unless they explained properly and Dean would probably catch on there was something he didn't know too.

_They're too young_, Lois said with a slow shake of her head.

Clark raised his eyebrows and replied, _they'll find out sooner or later, _with a shrug.

_Dean's five_, Lois protested with a glance towards their youngest son. _Lucy and Ella won't even understand, _she added by flicking her eyes towards the obliviously giggling twins as they shovelled sand over their feet and wiggled their toes through it.

"Do you know who Lex Luthor was?" Jason asked his siblings, taking the matter out of their hands.

"We learnt about him in school," Sophie told them, "about how he tried to blow up California and how he tried to grow another island to replace New Troy."

_And the whole of North America_, Lois felt like adding but the children looked upset enough. She made a mental note to talk to her daughter's teacher when they got home. She couldn't blame the school for not knowing her daughter's personal connection to the story- very few people knew that Richard, her and Jason had even been there, the decision made early on to tweak some of the details to spare the then five year old, and no one knew Superman had children who went to school and learnt about these things- but she wanted to make sure the worst of the details about the event weren't being taught to the younger children. They didn't need to know people as truly evil as Lex Luthor existed at that age.

She quickly glanced at her youngest, pleased to see they had started moving away from the group, completely unaware of the serious tone the conversation had taken. They would find out one day, but certainly not today.

"Well, you see," Clark started, shifting so he could put his arm around his daughter. Lois did the same, moving so she could comfort Dean if he became distressed by the tale. "Lex Luthor was a bad man."

"A very bad man," Jason added.

"A vary bad man," Clark agreed, "do you remember when I took you up to the Fortress, how I told you it used to be lit up but now the power was gone?"

All three children dutifully nodded, remembering their camping trips north with their Dad and the Kryptonian lessons he had been teaching them since they were old enough to understand.

"Well, Lex Luthor was the one who stole that." Sophie gave a quiet gasp but didn't say anything so Clark pressed on. "That was how he made New Krypton."

He paused for a moment, his forehead creasing and Lois knew he was wondering how much to tell the children. "He managed to get some kryptonite as well," he went on, "and when I first tried to stop him form making New Krypton and hurting a lot of people he… stabbed me. Here," he explained, pointing to the scar Jason had asked about.

"Did it hurt?" Dean asked, speaking up for the first time, his face sad and his young eyes concerned for his father.

"It did," Clark told him honestly, "but then your Mom and Uncle Richard came to get me."

"Me too!" Jason chimed in.

"And Jason was there too," Clark agreed, smiling at his eldest son. "He helped find me."

"And then," Lois continued, pulling Dean onto her lap and hugging him tight, "your father saved the world and went to hospital where the doctors looked after him and made him better," she finished quickly, hoping that would be enough for the children.

It seemed to be, they didn't press, Clark covered up and they left the beach shortly after, it had been getting near bedtime in Metropolis and after Clark's story none of the older kids had felt like continuing to play anyway, and Lucy and Ella had started fussing and crying, clearly getting tired too.

At dinner things became lighter, Clark took the kids the long way home, skimming over the tops of the Himalayas to show them Luthor was a long time ago and the one lasting mark anyone had ever left on Superman hadn't slowed him down.

Lois returned from putting Lucy and Ella down to hear Clark talking quietly and seriously to Sophie. She didn't catch any words though, only bumping into him as he switched the light off and closed the door, Lois having given her goodnights already.

"What was that about?" she asked, already knowing. "We shouldn't have told them," she insisted, not waiting for the answer, "they are far to young to know about things like this."

"She'll be fine," Clark promised her, "And they were going to ask at some point," he added quietly. "Better to get it out of the way than let them think we're hiding something or don't trust them with the truth. And you know as well as I do we've got another reporter on our hands with that one," he smiled as he nodded to Sophie's room, "she would not have let it go."

"I'm almost wondering if I should give Jason's old shrink a call and tell her she might be seeing us again," she sighed, leaning against her husband, enjoying his warmth as he warmed his strong, comforting arms around her.

"We just have to keep reminding them it was a long time ago," Clark said thoughtfully, "and that Mom, Jason and Uncle Richard saved Dad and now everything's okay. Luthor's long gone and kryptonite is scarcer than ever."

Lois nodded, she wanted to talk more but she knew who it was she had married so she had to accept it when Clark's head twitched slightly to the side and he spun into his super-suit, ready to go off and save the world again.

When he returned Lois was waiting on the balcony. She had tried to sleep but she couldn't. Apparently the kids hadn't been the only ones upset by the story on the beach. She couldn't stop remembering it, the yacht, the plane, Clark's anguished scream as she pulled the kryptonite out of his back.

A familiar whooshing sound made Lois smiled and she closed her eyes and leaned back, knowing he'd be there to catch her. "Good night?" she asked.

"An earthquake," he said, "lots of property damage but no loss of life. I thought you'd be asleep by the time I got back."

"I couldn't," Lois admitted, "just… remembering Luthor today…" she shook her head, unable to go on.

"Hey," Clark said quietly, turning her around so she was facing him. He carefully brushed her hair away from her face and frowned, "I know that day was hard on you too, but I'm here now, Jason's here, Richard's here. _Metropolis_-" he waved his hand out over the city, "- is here. We survived, Luthor lost."

"I know," Lois sighed, "but… " she shook her head and closed her eyes, images of that horrible day rising from her memories. "I'll be fine," she promised. "I just need to keep reminding myself you did get better."

"Well, then," Clark announced in a stage whisper, his wicked grin the only warning she had before he scooped her up and carried her down the hall to their bedroom, located conveniently (and necessarily) on the far side of the apartment from the kid's, Lois unable to hold in her laughter, "now the kids are in bed and fast asleep, what's say I reassure you _properly_ about that recovery."

Lois laughed as Clark swept her into their room, locking the door behind them and was soon very sure her husband was more than recovered.

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Reviews are love!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **This fic takes place a few weeks after Lucy and Ella are born. My first attempt at setting out to write Mommy!Lois from the start rather than just letting it happen. Hope I did okay. Also the first oneshot I've written in ages not for a challenge or prompt.

**Trouble Double**

* * *

"Clark what have you been feeding these children?" Lois asked trying very hard not to breathe in as she carefully slid a very full nappy out from under her infant daughter.

She hurriedly dropped it in the diaper bin to seal off the smell but from what her older three children had taught her, she had a lot more of this to get used to. And this time everything was two-fold.

Twins, she couldn't believe Clark had gone and knocked her up with _twins._

She looked over towards her husband, changing the other infant in the house with that huge silly I'm-a-Daddy! grin he wore, like even changing his child's diaper was the greatest thing he'd ever had the honour of doing.

But Lois knew, as much as she loved her children she would never really understand how it was for her husband. She had always known if she wanted to- which she hadn't, right up until Jason had proved her very wrong when was placed in her arms for the first time- it was very likely she could have children barring an unforseen problems.

Clark's life had been almost the complete opposite. His failed mission to find his birth-planet had been born entirely from a desire to find someone else like him, because as far as he knew he was the last and from a very young age he had believed it was impossible for him to have children of his own with a human.

Until Jason had, as the boy was prone to do, proved him wrong.

_How could you ever think the universe wouldn't let you be a father? _She wondered, unable to stop her own smile as she watch Clark gently slip his twin into a purple onsie. All the while making ridiculous coochie-woochie baby noises at his babbling, giggling daughter.

_If Metropolis could see their hero now,_ she thought. Jimmy could make a fortune and retire on his own private island if he had ever had the urge to sell any of the thousand of photos he had of his best friend and family. Fortunately for everyone involved the idea hadn't even entered the photographer's head.

It took a bit longer for Lois to wrestle her baby into her pink outfit as the little girl wouldn't stop wriggling on the table and babbling at her mother who, despite her frustration, couldn't help grinning back.

"Finally," she announced, doing up the last button. "I've gotta be getting back soon," she told her husband, looking at the clock. She'd taken a long lunch to visit Clark and the kids, the last few weeks had had her away from home 'till well after the kids were asleep, she still hadn't seen her two eldest, Sophie or Jason, in a week but she was leaving early tonight whether Perry liked it or not.

She'd also gotten a few quotes for her latest article as well. It hadn't taken long for the world to notice Superman wasn't around as much as usual and Perry wanted the story from the source. _Where's he gone? What's he doing? He's still here so he hasn't gone off again but why is he scaling it back? Why only the big stuff now? What's changed in his life? _

Lois had had to do some fancy typing to complete the story to both her editor's and her husband's satisfaction. Perry wanted the full story but Clark wasn't keen on outright lying but writing an article titled _Superman: Stay-at-home Dad _probably wasn't a good idea either.

"Alright," she sighed, pushing the article out of her mind, as the little girl in her arms started to fall asleep, "you take Ella then, I wanted to go say hi to Dean before I have to leave."

"Lucy," Clark corrected her almost absentmindedly, grinning like the love-struck father he was, as he took his daughter from his wife.

"Pardon?" Lois blinked as she looked between her infant children.

"You had Lucy, this is Ella," Clark said, placing her next to her sister. "I always put Lucy in the pink and Ella in the purple."

"Oh." She blinked again and looked carefully at her daughters.

"Lois, are you okay?" Clark asked, a note of worry creeping into his voice as he looked at his wife. Lois realised she had been staring rather intently at the crib.

"The whole time I was changing her I thought she was Ella," She said slowly, looking at the now sleeping twins, curled up together in their colour-coded onesies with freshly changed diapers.

She carefully studied their little faces, so similar yet there were differences even now. Differences she, their mother, should know by now.

"Lois, it's not a big deal-"

"They're not even identical!" She interrupted him, remembering the many times she'd been asked since they'd been born. _Oh, twins! How adorable! Both girls? Identical? No, really? Oh, but twins!_

"Well," Clark frowned, his eyes worried for her, "just because there were two placentas doesn't mean they're a hundred percent fraternal- if the eggs splits early enough-"

"Have you ever mixed them up?" Lois asked bluntly, even as she said it unsure herself why she was so affected.

"Well…" Clark looked decidedly uncomfortable now. "They're only a month old Lois, they're babies, of course they look very similar."

"You've never had trouble have you?"

"No," Clark admitted, "but that's why I have them colour-coded. So I don't mix them up."

"What about when you give them a bath?" Lois asked.

"Lois, they're infants, it's not a big deal getting them confused for a moment. And I spend more time with them than you do so it's-" he stopped suddenly at her look, clearly knowing he'd said the wrong thing right away. "Lois, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," she assured him, knowing for certain there wasn't a mean or resentful bone in her husband's body, "but you're right, I don't spend enough time with them. No wonder I can barely recognise my own children."

"Now _that's _not true," Clark told her bluntly.

Lois frowned and looked back at her daughters, Lucy was in the pink, Ella in the purple, but she'd never needed that to tell them apart before so why-

"Mom!"

She didn't have time to dwell then as a small brown-haired child catapulted towards her. Lois and Clark were both taken by surprise, though thankfully Clark had quicker reactions than his wife and was able to stop the overly-enthusiastic three-year-old slamming straight into his unprepared mother.

"What have I said about running in the house, young man?" Clark asked sternly, kneeling to look his son in the eyes.

"No running in the house," Dean muttered, looking down. At three the boy couldn't move that fast but with their eldest child recently coming into his Kryptonian inheritance, Lois and Clark had decided to instil good habits in the children from the start.

Or, house-saving habits at least, Lois thought, remembering the repair bill and explanations that had followed Jason's first attempt to angrily slam a door after his strength had fully developed.

"Don't worry, sweetie," Lois told him, playing good cop and picking her son up, "I'm excited to see you too." She gave him a proper hug, feeling her heart fill with a familiar love and happiness as he happily returned it. Clark smiled a the pair of them and Lois tried to glare at him over Dean's shoulder. It was bad enough he'd gone and knocked her up with _five _children, he didn't have to know she was happy about it too.

"Can I show you what I drew?" Dean asked excitedly.

"Of course," Lois replied, allowing Dean to grasp her hand in his tiny one and pull her into the playroom just off the living room.

"Look," Dean said proudly, pulling a crayon drawing out from under another pile of crayon drawings. Not all of them by him, Lois noted with some amusement, recognising Clark's slightly more refined scribblings among them.

Lois allowed herself one more glace towards her daughters before giving her full attention to her son. Him at least she could tell apart from her other children.

"I'll try and make it home early tonight," Lois promised Clark and Dean as they walked to the door to see her off, "have a good day, love you both."

Clark kissed her and Dean waved and then she stopped being Lois Kent, Mom and was back to Lois Lane, _Daily Planet_. Not that they were all that different, except Lois Kent doubted herself so much more than Lois Lane ever had.

Of course, she was being stupid though, Clark was right, she'd never gotten Lucy and Ella mixed up before. But… Clark always told her which one she had, or which was which when they weren't in their onsies. _You hold Lucy _or, _Ella's been fussing, here, I think you should feed her now_. She often went to check on them before she went to bed but the separate cribs they slept in were both graced with hand-carved nameplates, bearing _Lucy _and _Eleanor _in very easily read writing.

Then she was almost run over but a taxi and decided to concentrate on where she was walking rather than dwell on her failures as a mother.

She had a Senator to bring down today anyway, her first big story since coming back from maternity leave, she was intent on proving to everyone that not even giving birth to twins would be slowing Mad Dog Lane down.

And the good thing about trying not to get oneself killed while simultaneously infiltrating a brothel to secretly film one of the most respected men in the country taking bribes and cheating on his wife and children was that it left very little room in her head to dwell on the two babies waiting at home for a mother who didn't even know them from each other.

Yet when Clark found her early the next morning at the kitchen table, having arrived home long after she'd promised Dean, she still couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Lois…" Clark frowned, "what are you doing?"

"Dwelling," Lois told him, frowning down at the five photos she had lined out in front of her.

On the drive home she had thought again how she had never had to tell her children apart as infants before because none had been infants together before Lucy and Ella. So she had pulled out the photo album and taken the earliest pictures she could find of her children and lay them in front of her.

It was a pointless action, with Lucy and Ella she had only the girls themselves to tell apart but with the pictures there were so many other distinctive features in them she had no idea if she really could tell them apart of if she just knew because she knew the photo, not the child.

Jason's stood out first. Even if it wasn't of him in the NICU that was still recognisable Richard's hand in the picture, she could make out the faint scar under his knuckle that was a defensive wound from a knife attack in Amman. And Jason himself was so small and fragile, nothing like the loud, tall eleven year old he'd grown into.

Sophie's first picture was also distinctive, Martha had knitted her first granddaughter several items and insisted her handmade yellow hat replace the standard hospital-issue one.

Dean's was in their living room, where he'd been born. The corner of the same coffee table that sat there now was clearly visible.

Even the first baby pictures of Lucy and Ella gave themselves away, having been taken in their hospital cots, the labels, Kent, L. and Kent, E. clearly visible at the bottom.

"Lois…" Clark repeated, picking up the photos then sitting down next to her and looking at his wife with concern. "I've never seen you let something bother you so much. Especially something as small as this."

Lois couldn't look at him, she didn't know how to explain how hard her mistake had hit. She had always doubted her ability to be a mother. Always. Lois Lane had faced down politicians, criminals, even Superman without flinching but the single most terrifying moment of her life had been the moment she'd found out she was pregnant with Jason.

She had thought she had held people's lives in her hands before. More than once and investigation had ended with her pointing a gun at someone, waiting for Superman or the police to arrive. Though she was eternally glad she had never had to, she had at those times held the power to end that person's life.

And therein lay the difference. She had not had not held that person' life in her hands, only their death. Ending a life was easy, but being responsible for bringing a new one in to the world? Knowing that she was going to be responsible for everything this child needed to survive in the world? Nothing had ever scared her more.

Over the years she had learned to push those doubts to the side, where Clark couldn't see them but they were still there, simmering away. And her mistake that morning had dragged them all back up into the harsh light of day, every last one.

"What if you hadn't been here?" Lois asked finally, "what if I'd just gone and put them in the wrong colours and the wrong cots? Then what if we all thought Lucy was Ella and Ella was Lucy?"

Clark sighed and took her hands. "Lois, you only confused them for a moment- you would have realised soon. They look the same but already I bet you could tell me how different they are in their personalities."

Lois didn't meet his eyes. Clark continued, "and what if we did call them by different names, do you think I became a different person when my parents decided to name me Clark? And it really was only chance we called the first one Lucy and the second Eleanor. And, if it really is worrying you so much… I _can_ tell them apart properly," Clark admitted finally, "but only because I can see and hear so much more than you. If you ever got them mixed up for real- which you never will-" he assured her, "I could just use my abilities and find out who was who- it's almost impossible to see but Ella's hair is lighter than Lucy's and her heartbeat sounds different…" he trailed off, clearly uncertain as to whether telling her he at least would never mix up their children like her was the right thing to do or whether it would make her feel worse.

Lois opened her mouth to reply but, as if they knew they we being talked about, one of the twins choose that moment to start crying from their room. It sounded like Ella but Lois was no longer sure.

Clark gave her an apologetic look, as if it was his fault they were interrupted and headed into the room. Whichever baby was crying had now woken her sister and Lois knew they would soon wake the other children if they didn't get the attention they wanted.

She followed her husband to the changing table where he'd already taken the girls out of their onsies and started getting the nappies ready. "They need to be changed," he said, a tad unnecessarily as Lois could already smell it for herself.

"Both of them?" They may not have been identical but they were certainly synchronised.

They each took one as usual and changed them in silence, Lois started to hope Clark had left their conversation out in the hall but she should have known he wouldn't drop it that easy.

"It was really no big deal," he spoke finally, "if you'd read all the baby books I had you'd know that mixing up multiples when they're younger is actually common. Most parents have them colour-coded for the first few months. Even fraternal ones."

"I know," Lois lied, taking the purple onesie Clark handed her and slipping her, thankfully quiet, daughter into it. So she had Ella then, had she known that before? She couldn't remember.

Clark started to say something but his head twitched to the left and he frowned.

"Go," Lois told him.

"I'll only be a moment," he told her, kissing her lightly before spinning into his suit and leaping out of the window.

True to his word he was back less than a minute later as Lois was just finishing fastening up her daughter's onesie.

"Just a mugging," Clark explained, "but she had a gun so I thought I should intervene, dropped her off at the station, they'll take care of it."

Lois smiled, the police had been getting used to her husband's quick drop-offs and fly-by rescues now. More often than not they would arrive at robberies or car accidents to find the clean-up left to them. Bullets stopped and injured delivered to hospital but the processing of would-be thieves and clearing of roads would be in this hands.

To their credit none had a bad word to say about Superman's recent scaling back of his efforts. Even when confronted by the media who had pounced on the story they refused to tarnish his name in any way. Even though none of them really knew the true reason, they had asked of course, but Superman kept his secrets and they had no choice but to let him.

"But we know why don't we?" Lois asked the girl in her arms as Clark delivered her twin back to her room. "We know why Daddy can't be at your charity event today, it's because of you."

The baby in her arms giggled and Lois frowned suddenly, something odd tugging at her. She bounced the baby up and down gently and she giggled again and there it was, something not quite right, not quite her Ella- but very much one of her daughters.

"Clark…" She frowned, following him in the twins' room and looking closely at the baby in her arms. Purple was always for Ella but… "This is Lucy," she realised suddenly, the tiny girl in her arms looking up at her mother, blissfully unaware of her confusion.

Clark smiled, coming up behind her to kiss her lightly on the neck, careful not to disturb the sleeping, pick-clad baby he still held. "Told you it was just a bad day," he whispered, "isn't Mommy silly, Lucy-lou?" he asked the purple dressed girl Lois held, "yes she is." The girl in Lois' arms giggled again and now Lois knew for sure.

"This is Lucy," She repeated, looking again between her two daughters.

Clark, still smiling, gently took both girls and deftly swapped them back into the right colours. "I told you looks weren't everything," he said, once he'd lain the girls down to sleep and joined his still mildly confused wife in the hallway.

"How did you know I would be able to tell?" Lois asked, shaking her head.

"You're Lois Lane, nothing gets past you."

"And what if I hadn't?"

Clark shrugged. "I knew, and if you really hadn't we would have just waited until they had grown some more. You don't get Dean and Jason mixed up," he reminded her, "Lucy and Ella share as much DNA as our other kids, once they grow up you'll never have a problem."

"I know," Lois lied again, "but…" she sighed, "I just… this whole thing… it just always makes that little voice at the back of my mind louder, reminding me that Lois Lane will never be a good mother-"

"I'll have you know Miss Lane," he interrupted her smoothly, his voice deepening into its Superman tone, sending shivers down her spine, "that the woman I married is a very good mother, and though she professes they were all unplanned she loves her children very much and they love her." He raised a his eyebrows a fraction of an inch as he would when they were still strangers on a rooftop. "Do I make myself clear?"

He said the words with such conviction in his voice that Lois almost believed him. She leaned against him, enjoying the solidness he provided, not just with his body but with his whole being. "Promise me something," she said after a moment.

"Anything," he replied without hesitation.

"Don't stop telling me that until I believe it too."

"Deal," Clark said firmly, leaning down and sealing it with a kiss.

"You have to promise me one thing as well," Clark said as they finally separated.

"And what might that be?"

"You can _never_ call my wife a bad mother again."

* * *

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